Roofing · Richmond, BC
Roofing in Richmond, BC: flat roofs, low slopes and a city at sea level
Roofing Vancouver BC replaces, repairs and inspects roofs across Richmond — Steveston and Seafair through Broadmoor and City Centre to Bridgeport, Hamilton and Sea Island. Flat and low-slope work is most of it: two-ply IKO SBS torch-on, TP-180 base and TP-250 cap. WorkSafeBC registered, $5M insured, GAF certified, ICBA and BBB members.
The ground
A flat city on a delta, one metre above the sea.
Richmond is not a hillside town with some flat roofs on it. It is an island of river silt in the mouth of the Fraser, and almost everything about roofing here follows from that.
The City describes itself as averaging about one metre above sea level and holds the river and the strait back with 49 km of dikes. There is no natural fall to the land, which means no gravity assist for drainage, and there is no hillside to shelter behind, which means wind arrives off the water with nothing in the way. Deltaic ground also settles. A deck that was dead level the day it was framed may be carrying a low spot two decades later, and on a flat roof that low spot becomes a pond.
The one thing Richmond has in its favour is rain, or rather the relative lack of it. Vancouver International Airport sits in Richmond, on Sea Island, and in Environment and Climate Change Canada's Canadian Climate Normals that station records 1,189 mm of precipitation a year over 1981–2010 — the lowest figure of any station on our coverage map. Inland at the middle of the island, the Richmond Nature Park station records 1,262 mm in the 1981–2007 normals, so even the wetter half of the city stays at the dry end of the region. Compare the North Vancouver Sonora Drive station at 2,356 mm, near enough double, and the point makes itself: a Richmond membrane is not being beaten to death by rainfall volume. It ages from ultraviolet, from thermal movement and from standing water, and those are problems of detailing and drainage rather than of weather.
The building stock
Why flat roofing is the default here, not a specialty.
Three in five homes sit under a multi-unit roof
The City's own published housing figures put apartments at about 42 per cent of Richmond dwellings and townhouses at close to 20 per cent, with single-detached houses at roughly 36 per cent. Multi-unit buildings mean flat and low-slope roofs, and the pace of apartment construction over the last decade has pushed that share further.
Then there is the working side of the island: the warehouse and distribution belt around Bridgeport and Mitchell Island, the Ironwood and east Richmond industrial lands, and the airport and Sea Island properties. Those are large low-slope membrane roofs with dozens of curbs, units and drains on them. Commercial and strata roofing here is ordinary work rather than a sideline.
And the pitched stock that remains
Richmond's single-family neighbourhoods are real and they are shingled: Seafair, Broadmoor, Blundell, Steveston, Shellmont, Granville, Riverdale, Woodwards and the Gilmore and Hamilton edges. A large share of that stock predates 1980, which puts many of those roofs into a second or third covering by now.
They are easier roofs than the North Shore's — less shade, less rain, less moss pressure — but the pitches are shallow and the wind is unobstructed, so the details that fail are edges, ridge caps and anywhere a low-slope addition meets the main roof. Asphalt shingle work in Richmond is mostly about those junctions.
Burkeville on Sea Island is its own case: a small wartime housing neighbourhood built during the Second World War for aircraft workers, with the roof sizes and framing conventions of that moment still under whatever covering is on it now.
The system
Torch-on roofing services in Richmond, and what is in the assembly.
We install a two-ply IKO SBS modified bitumen system: a TP-180 base sheet torched down, then a TP-250 granulated cap sheet over it. Two plies, not one.
That distinction is the whole argument. In a two-ply system the laps of the base and the cap are offset, so no single seam is the only thing standing between the water and the deck. Seams, perimeter, curbs, drains and every penetration are detailed in the same material rather than in sealant, and the granulated cap carries the ultraviolet load that would otherwise cook the membrane. Full detail is on our torch-on roofing page and our flat roofing page. We do not install TPO.
On a Richmond roof the drainage survey matters as much as the membrane. Before we re-cover anything we look at where water actually stands after rain, whether the drains and scuppers are at the low points they were designed to be at, and whether settlement has moved the deck since. Repitching with tapered insulation, adding an overflow, or simply relocating a drain is frequently the difference between a membrane that reaches the end of its life and one that fails early over one soft corner.
Flat and torch-on work carries a five-year workmanship warranty. Shingle, metal, cedar and composite carry ten. Manufacturer material terms run separately and longer, and we hand over the registration paperwork rather than describing it.
Inspections and permits
Roof inspection in Richmond: drains first, membrane last.
On a pitched roof an inspection starts with the field and works into the details. On a flat roof it runs the other way round, because that is the order in which flat roofs fail.
Our free roof inspection covers all accessible surfaces. On a low-slope roof that means the drains and scuppers, standing water and where it sits, the seams, the perimeter and wall flashings, every curb, unit and penetration, and then the open field. Most flat-roof leaks we are called to start at a blocked drain or a wall flashing, not in the middle of the membrane. You get back a written report with photographs of your own roof, the condition of each area, an estimate of remaining service life and a fixed written price for anything recommended.
If the answer is a repair rather than a re-cover, the report says so and prices the repair. A single failed curb flashing on an otherwise sound membrane is a repair, and treating it as a roof replacement would be dishonest.
On permits: replacing a roof covering is a different proposition from structural repairs, new decking beyond a patch, or work that alters the building envelope, and the City's Building Approvals department decides where that line falls. Richmond publishes its requirements and its homeowner guidance through its home building and renovations guide. We confirm with the department before the job starts, and the city permit is included in the quoted price where one is required.
Where we work
Roofers near you across Richmond and Sea Island.
City Centre and Brighouse, Steveston, Seafair, Terra Nova, Broadmoor, Blundell, Granville, Shellmont, Riverdale, Bridgeport, East and West Cambie, Gilmore, Hamilton, Ironwood, South Arm, Thompson, Woodwards and Sea Island, including Burkeville.
Every job includes synthetic underlayment on pitched work, peel-and-stick at all penetrations, 26-gauge custom flashings and valleys, new Duraflo 50 vents sized to the roof at roughly one per five squares, new pipe jacks and flashings, removal of the existing roofing, full clean-up of job debris, licensed and insured crews and the city permit where one is required.
Priced at the inspection rather than assumed: new decking if rot is found, a second existing layer to tear off, difficult access, an unusually complex roof, skylights, chimney flashing, gutters and structural repairs. Rot turns up on about one tear-off in ten, almost always around a penetration. A standard house takes one to three days.
We are WorkSafeBC registered, carry five million dollars of liability insurance, are GAF certified, and belong to the ICBA and the BBB. Over five hundred roofs completed across the region.
Questions
Roofing in Richmond, plainly answered.
Who does roofing in Richmond, BC?
We do. Roofing Vancouver BC works across Richmond, from Steveston and Seafair through Broadmoor, Blundell, Brighouse and City Centre to Bridgeport, East and West Cambie, Hamilton and Sea Island. Flat and low-slope work is the bulk of it: two-ply IKO SBS torch-on, TP-180 base and TP-250 cap. We also install asphalt shingle, metal and cedar on the pitched stock. WorkSafeBC registered, five million dollars of liability insurance, GAF certified, ICBA and BBB members.
Why are there so many flat roofs in Richmond?
Because of what Richmond is built as. The City's own housing figures put apartments at about 42 per cent of Richmond dwellings and townhouses at almost 20 per cent, so roughly three in five homes here sit under a multi-unit roof, and those are overwhelmingly flat or low-slope. Add the warehouse and light-industrial belt around Bridgeport, Mitchell Island and the airport lands and flat roofing stops being a specialty in Richmond and becomes the default.
What torch-on roofing system do you install in Richmond?
A two-ply IKO SBS modified bitumen system: a TP-180 base sheet torched down, then a TP-250 granulated cap sheet over it, with the seams, the perimeter, every curb and every drain detailed in the same material. Two plies rather than one is the part that matters, because the laps in the two layers are offset and no single seam is the only thing between the water and the deck. We do not install TPO.
How long does a torch-on roof last here?
Longer in Richmond than almost anywhere else we work, for the simple reason that Richmond is the driest place on our coverage map. Vancouver International Airport is in Richmond, on Sea Island, and Environment and Climate Change Canada records 1,189 mm of precipitation a year there in the 1981-2010 normals; the Richmond Nature Park station, inland, records 1,262 mm in the 1981-2007 normals. Against 2,356 mm at the North Vancouver Sonora Drive station, that is close to half the water falling on the same assembly. Ultraviolet and ponding, rather than rainfall volume, are what age a Richmond membrane, which is why the drainage and the granule surface matter more here than the rain total does.
Does being at sea level change anything about the roof?
It changes the drainage, which on a flat roof is most of the job. The City of Richmond describes itself as averaging about one metre above sea level, protected by 49 km of dikes. Ground here is deltaic and buildings settle, so a roof deck that was dead level when it was built may not be twenty years later. That shows up as ponding in the wrong places, and it is why we survey where water actually stands before repitching or re-covering.
Do you do commercial roofing in Richmond?
Yes. Richmond has one of the largest concentrations of warehouse, distribution and light-industrial buildings in the region, most of it low-slope membrane, and strata townhouse complexes across Broadmoor, Blundell and West Cambie on top of that. Commercial and strata work runs on the same two-ply SBS systems, scheduled in sections so a building keeps operating. The workmanship warranty on flat and torch-on work is five years; manufacturer terms run separately and longer.
What does a roof inspection in Richmond cover?
All accessible roof surfaces, and on a flat roof that means the drains and scuppers first, then the seams, the perimeter flashings, every curb and penetration, and only then the open field of the membrane. Most flat-roof failures we are called to start at a blocked drain or a wall flashing rather than in the middle of the roof. You get a written report with photographs, the condition of each area and a fixed written price. It is free.
Do I need a permit to re-roof in Richmond?
It depends on the scope of work. Replacing a roof covering is a different matter from structural repairs, new decking beyond a patch or anything altering the building envelope, and the City's Building Approvals department is the authority on where the line falls for your address. We confirm before the job starts rather than assuming, and the city permit is included in the quoted price where one is required.
Next
Get the number for your Richmond roof.
Type the address and we measure the roof from satellite imagery and price it on the screen. The free inspection turns that into a fixed written price, with the drainage surveyed and the deck condition accounted for rather than assumed.